Return of the Pig
by futureauthor13
Summary: Chowder's life is perfect. He loves everything about it, especially cooking. But when a certain pig returns and shuts down the company, will he have to fight to get back what he loves to do?
1. Chapter 1

"Okay Scraps, think you're ready to try to make this new recipe I created?"

"Yeah! Oh, um, I mean, yes Mr. Chowder."

It was just a regular afternoon at Mung Daal's Catering Company. It had been almost a year since the company was given to Chowder. Even though he was in charge now, both Chowder and Panini agreed to keep the name of the company that had been the catbearit's home for many years.

Chowder and his young box turtle apprentice, Scraps, were in the kitchen cooking a dish just for fun. His lovely wife, Panini, was at her bakery with her own apprentice. As for the couple's fifty children, they were all upstairs in the Baby Room (at least that's what everyone called it) taking a nap. For Chowder, it was a perfect life.

"Okay, I call this dish, Ravioli Souffle," said Chowder, putting a silver pot on the counter.

"Ravioli Souffle?" repeated Scraps with a confused look.

"Yeah, why not?" said Chowder, "Inside you have all your basic ravioli ingredients like meat, noodles, and sauce, and on the outside, you have puffy, delicious dough." If there was one thing Chowder was good at, was coming up with unique, original (and sometimes weird) ideas.

Scraps grabbed a fork, and took a bite. "Mmm," he said happily, "that's good."

"I know," said Chowder, grabbing his own fork and taking a bite. "Mmm. I'll get the recipe so you can make your own." But before he could even get it, he heard the customer bell ring. "Wait just a minute, I'll be right back.

Quickly, Chowder headed into the lobby to take the order of whatever the customer wanted. He quickly got out his notebook. "Hello there, can I take your..." He looked up from his notebook and couldn't believe who was there. "Rueben?"

The chubby, pig man stood in the door smiling. "Hello," he said, smoothly.

Rueben had made enough of an impression on Chowder to make him remember. Rueben had almost shut down their business, twice! He also ruined their fishing trip (even if it was boring). Rueben still wore the same green jacket, clothes and hat. In fact, the only thing that had changed was that his once brown beard was now gray and his snout was just a little more limp. Chowder didn't like Rueben, but it wasn't in his nature to be rude.

"What are you doing here?" Chowder asked, curious.

"Oh, you haven't heard?" replied Rueben, "I'm a food critic for the Marzipan City Times." He pulled a newspaper out from his jacket pocket, and showed Chowder his latest review.

"Oh," said Chowder, "So you've come here to review the food here?"

"Yes, when I heard that Mung's apprentice was now the owner, I had to see how much had changed," said Rueben. He picked up a menu that was on the front desk. "Hmm. I was going to order just a sandwich, but I wonde about this 'Big Mess Cake'? You have it for your special?"

"Yep, it's our most popular dish," said Chowder.

"Well it can't be the name," Rueben mumbled. He put the menu back. "Well then, I believe I'll just have a slice of cake."

"Coming right up," said Chowder, trying to have enthusiasm even though he was looking forward to cooking his newest creation with Scraps. Quickly, he headed into the kitchen.

When he came in the kitchen, Scraps already had a bowl and dough out. "I'm ready to cook, Mr. Chowder."

"Um, actually, we'll have to cook that later," said Chowder, "We just got an order for Big Mess Cake, and we have to cook it now, because it's being ordered by a food critic."

"A food critic?" asked Scraps, "Wow. Do you think he'll like it?"

"Of course he will," Chowder replied, confidently, "Why wouldn't he?"

About ten minutes later, Chowder and Scraps entered the lobby and presented Rueben with the cake.

"Here you go, Rueben," said Chowder, handing him the plate and a fork. Rueben took the plate, and started to eat the moist, chocolate dessert. As soon as he took the first bite, Rueben made a face. He tried to keep himself from smiling, but to no avail.

"Mmm," the pig critic said with a big smile. After finishing the cake in three more bites, he handed the plate back to Chowder.

"So Rueben, what do you think?" asked Chowder.

"You'll just have to wait until the review," said Rueben, heading for the door, "Now, good day." And with that, he left.

()()())()()()()()()()

"Please honey, just taste it."

It was dinner time (everyone's favorite time of the day at the company) and the whole catbearit family was sitting down to eat. Luckily the old dining room table fit fifty-three people, they just had to get fifty high chairs for the babies. Chowder, Scraps, and Panini all sat at the head of the table, while their babies, whose fur varied between different light colors, sat around them.

"Please Cavatini, just try a bite," Panini said to one of her daughters. The small, pink catbearit shook her head no.

"But Scraps worked hard on it," said Chowder.

"Scrappy made it?" The babies all thought of Scraps as their big brother, and often whatever he did, they'd try to mimic. Slowly, Cavatini picked up her spoon and took a bite of her mashed up Ravioli Souffle. "Mmm, yum yum, Mommy! Yum yum!"

Panini gave a relieved sigh. She still couldn't believe that a child of one of the biggest food lovers in town could be so picky. "So Num Nums, how was your day?"

"A food critic came?" said Scraps.

"Really? Which one?"

"Remember Rueben," asked Chowder.

"You mean that pig who tried to get a date with Ms. Endive when she was renewing her certificate?" said Panini. Chowder nodded. "He's a food critic now?"

"I guess so," said Chowder, "I wonder what he'll have to say in the review."

"Daddy's food good!" said Cous Cous, one of their sons who had blue fur and was chubby like Chowder.

"Yeah, yummy cake!" said Mango, refering to the Big Mess Cake, which they would often have for dessert.

Chowder smiled at his supported family. "Yeah, we've got nothing to worry about."

()()()()()()()()

"So now I just pour this in?" said Scraps holding a measuring cup full of milk over the bowl.

"Yep, just pour it in," said Chowder. He and Scraps were in the middle of making an order of Chocolate flavored Burple Nurples. So far, it had been just another normal day. While Chowder and Scraps made the order, Panini, who had the day off, was playing with the babies. Rueben's review had came out, but Chowder didn't read it. He knew that Rueben liked the cake, there was no hiding that.

Suddenly, the door bell rang. Getting a deja vu feeling, Chowder excused himself and went to open the door.

"Hello?" he asked, looking around.

"Down here," said a voice. Chowder looked down and saw a short, green man with a yellow hat.

"Um, can I help you?" he asked the short man, who looked familiar.

"Yeah, I'm here to shut down your business."

"What?"

**In case you didn't know who the man was, he was the guy who took Mung's certificate in "Certifrycation Class". So yeah, bit of a cliffhanger. Sorry if it's a little boring, but it'll pick up soon, I promise. Please review!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Special thanks to Kurdave125 for being my first reviewer! Thanks! Now on with the chapter.**

"Wait, what do you mean you've come to shut down my business?" Chowder asked, confused. He had kept up on all the health codes, and Mung had made sure he got a cooking certificate (thankfully not from Rueben, but from someone more reliable). He hadn't done anything wrong. "Are you sure you don't have the wrong place?"

"Is this Mung Daal's Catering Company?" the man asked.

"Yes," replied Chowder.

"Then I haven't got the wrong place," said the man.

"Hello? What's going on, Chowder?" Panini asked as she came into the room.

"Panini, do we have the paper yet?" asked Chowder urgently.

"It should be on the doorstep. Why?" Chowder didn't answer. He just ran to the door. Sure enough, on the sidewalk in front of the door, was a rolled up newspaper. Chowder quickly opened it up and turned to the Critics section. As he read the review, he couldn't believe it!

**Rueben Pig: Restaurant Reviewer**

**This week: Mung Daal's Catering Company. **

**I've ate at Mung Daal's before. Despite questionable service, the food was good. But now, twenty years later, there's new management at the company, and I don't think new blood gave this company much life. **

**The service there was rude, and even though it only takes five minutes to serve a _pre-made cake, _I had to wait nearly half an hour for my food. I did play a game to pass the time though, it was called 'Count How Many Rats and Other Vermon You See'. When I finally got the food, I can say with all honesty that it was not worth the wait. The cake I ordered was dry and had a horrible after taste. The frosting was stale, and the plate it was served on looked like it hadn't been washed in weeks! I was going to complain, but then I thought, why bother? **

**But I am going to tell you, that filthy surroundings combined with rude service and stale food make for one dining experience I wish I could forget. But don't worry, I'm sure that this 'catering company' (if you can call it that) will be shut down soon.**

**Rating: Half a star out of five stars.**

"I don't believe it!" shouted Panini when she and Chowder were finished reading the review, "That was all lies!"

Chowder turned to the man. "I assure you, we don't serve rotten food, and we don't have rats."

Just then, Mango waddled into the kitchen holding something fluffy. "Mama, looked what I found!" She held up the fluffly object, and revealed it to be a rat!

Panini shrieked. "Mango! Put that rat down!" Immediantly, the young catbearit girl dropped the rat, and after a moment, it scurried away.

"Ha, no rats," said the man, writing something down on his paper, "That's what they all say." He then looked up at Chowder. "For unsanitary conditions, your kitchen is going to be shut down."

Chowder started to get worried. If the kitchen was shut down, where would they live? How would they make a living? And how would he be able to teach Scraps how to cook without a kitchen? "What if we cleaned up the place?" he suggested, even though he knew his home wasn't dirty.

"You could do that," said the man, "But you'll still have to wait a month. After that, you can try to get this place up and running again, or you might want to think about getting a job somewhere else."

Chowder sighed. He couldn't believe this was happening.

()()()()()()()()

*Ding dong!

"Radda radda," said Shnitzel as he walked towards the door, knowing who it was. He opened it up, and saw Chowder with his family.

"Thanks for letting us stay with you and Endive, Shnitzel," said Chowder as he walked through the door.

"Radda radda," said Shnitzel, who you could tell by his voice, wasn't too happy. "Radda radda radda radda."

"Okay, thanks," said Chowder. He and Panini would have one of the guest rooms, while Scraps would have his own room, and the babies could all stay in another room. It was a good thing Endive's house was so big.

"I'll go put the babies' things in their room," said Panini, who was carrying two baby bags.

"Okay," said Chowder, not even looking at his wife. Panini sat the bags down and put a hand on Chowder's shoulders.

"I know this is hard for you," said Panini, "but it'll be okay. I've still got the cupcake business, and in a month, we'll get the company going again."

"If anyone comes," said Chowder. After reading Rueben's review, he doubted if anyone would even think about ordering from them again.

"They will," said Panini, "Who can resist your cake, or your food, or you." She kissed him on the cheek, and Chowder gave a small smile.

"Thanks," he said. Panini smiled back, and then went back over to her bags. But as soon as she went upstairs, Chowder frowned again.

It wasn't fair. He finally had is own successful company and apprentice. Why did Rueben have to take that away? He glanced over at Scraps, who also looked sad. But then he saw Cavatini and Souffle, just two more of his sons and daughters walk over to him.

"Scrappy, can you play kitchen with us?" asked Cavatini.

"You can be the cosom..the cutso...the people who ask for food!" said Souffle. Scraps smiled at them.

"Sure," he said. The two catbearits cheered and all three walked towards a different room.

Chowder smiled. Even though things looked horrible, his apprentice still kept a happy attitude. He couldn't help but think of something his master said to him. _A good chef never gives up. _Mung never gave up, and neither was Chowder.

Just then, the phone rang. Since Chowder was the closest, he answered it. But before he could even say anything, the person on the other line started talking.

"Hey Shnitzel. Do you know where Chowder is? I tried calling him but I got a message saying that the line was temporarily disconnected."

"Mung?" asked Chowder.

"Chowder? What are you doing at Shnitzel's?" Chowder quickly told Mung the story of Rueben and his review.

"I don't believe it! He shut us down!" shouted Mung, "How did...Truffles! Wait! I'll let you talk to him in a min... Ahh!"

Now Truffles was on the line. "That pig shut us down?"

"Yeah, he..."

"That son of a boar! We're going to come right over and make him give us back the company! I didn't work my fingers to the bone for twenty years just to have that pig take my business away from my apprentice!"

Chowder smiled. Mung and Truffles were coming up to help. Maybe he wouldn't have to wait a month like he thought he would. After all, Truffles could be very persuasive.


	3. Chapter 3

**Thanks for the reviews, now on with the show :)**

It was early morning, and most of the house was awake. Chowder and Panini were making breakfast, while Shnitzel and Endive were sleeping in. All the babies were still in their room, waiting for breakfast to be served, and Scraps was brushing his teeth in the guest bathroom.

"Okay," said Chowder, wiping the sweat off his face with a washcloth, "Enough toast for five, and fifty bowls of oatmeal. Perfect."

"I'll go get the kids," said Panini. She took off her apron, and left the kitchen. As soon as she did, Chowder picked up a piece of toast. He licked his lips and was about to take a bite when he heard Panini yell "Wait until everyone's at the table!" Rats, he had been caught. Reluctantly, he put the toast down and started to set the table.

*Ding dong!*

Chowder looked up. That was strange, he thought, Endive doesn't open her company until ten, and that was pretty well known. Who could be here this early? The doorbell rang again, and then someone started knocking. Hard.

"Hold on!" shouted Chowder. He opened the door and saw two familiar faces. "Mung? Truffles? What are you guys doing here so early?"

"We said we were coming up to help," said Mung.

"What, did you expect us to wait until Rueben had shut down all of Marzipan?" asked Truffles.

Chowder smiled. "I'm glad you guys are here." He gave them both a hug, and they hugged back.

"Grandma! Grandpa!"

The three looked up and saw that all the babies were downstairs, and happy to see Mung and Truffles. After seeing a little kid show about 'Families', they thought Mung and Truffles were their grandparents, and so that what they started calling them. Chowder thought Mung and Truffles would mind, but they didn't mind at all.

"Aw, hello there," said Truffles happily as she picked up Papiya (a yellow, girl catbearit) and Calzone (a blue, boy catbearit).

"Grandpa, are you here to help Daddy cook?" asked Ramen (a light green, boy catbearit).

"No, I'm here to help get your house back," replied Mung. All the babies cheered.

"What's going on?" asked Scraps as he came down the stairs, with Shnitzel and Endive following, but then he saw Mung and Truffles and smiled. "Hi Mung, hi Truffles!" He quicklly ran over to the two elders.

"Hey Scraps," said Mung happily, "Has Chowder been teaching you a lot about cooking?"

"Yes, yesterday he showed me how to make Ravioli Souffle," replied Scraps.

"Well that's goo...wait, ravioli what?"

"Okay, I think it's time we all get reacquainted over breakfast," suggested Panini.

"Sounds good to me!" said Chowder, happily.

And so, the whole family of six adults and fifty one children all went into the dining room. Everyone ate their breakfast, except for Mung who said he had lost his appetite after reading Rueben's review.

"I can't believe it," said Mung, "I mean, Rueben was jerk, but I never would've thought he would sink this low."

"Radda radda," said Shnitzel.

"I know," replied Chowder, "but what are we going to do? I don't think he'll just write an article taking back what he said."

"He will if he knows what's good for him," said Truffles, pulling a frying pan out of thin air.

"Shnitzel, Chowder and I can go over after breakfast to try and pursuade Rueben," said Mung, "and if that doesn't work, then you can hit him with a frying pan, Sweetie." Mung then looked over to Endive. "Hey Endive, can you pass me the pepper?"

"You're going to put pepper on toast?" asked Endive, slightly disgusted, "What is wrong with you?"

"Endive, I think I know a little more about mixing flavors together than you do," retorted Mung, "Ms. Goes By The Book! No wonder people fall asleep while eating your food!"

"Well Mung Daal, If you were a great chef, which I know you aren't, you would know the book is always right!" shouted Endive, "which means I am always right, and _you _are always wrong!"

Chowder and Panini rolled their eyes. Here we go again.

"Mama, Auntie Endive and Grandpa are fighting again," said Vanilla (a white catbearit girl who looked a lot like Panini)

"I know sweetie," said Panini, "Just try to ignore them and eat your oatmeal."

()()()()()()()()

*Ding dong!*

"Must be another one of my fans," said Rueben smiling as he walked to the front door, wearing his green hat and a green bathrobe. He opened the door and frowned. He saw Mung, Shnitzel, and Chowder, and none of them looked too happy. "Oh," he said with a bored expression, "Hello Mung."

"Hello Rueben," Mung replied, glaring at the pig (A/N Seinfeld reference ftw), "I hear you're doing fake restaurant reviews now."

"Well, I'm doing food reviews, but they most certainly aren't fake," replied Rueben.

"Radda radda radda radda radda?" said Shnitzel, holding up the paper, folded open to the review.

"Well, I see you've seen my review," said Rueben.

"Every word of this review is a lie, Rueben," said Chowder, "And you know it. You got us shut down."

"I did?" said Rueben, playing dumb, "Well, that wasn't my intention at all!" They all gave him a 'yeah right' look. "Alright, maybe it was. What do you want me to do about it?"

"What we want," said Mung, "is to make a new review, saying how you lied and that Chowder's food and company is great."

"You can't prove I lied," said Rueben, glaring at them, "therefore, I don't have to do anything!"

"Radda radda...!" Shnitzel started to say, but Chowder started to say.

"Wait, he's right," said Chowder. And he was. Most of Rueben's review was his opinion, and they couldn't even get inside the company building to prove there were no rats because it was locked up. They had no leverage over Rueben.

"Now, if you excuse me, I have to work on a review on a seafood restaurant," said Rueben. He then slammed the door right in their faces.

"Radda radda radda radda?" asked Shnitzel.

"Yeah Chowder, what do we do now?" asked Mung.

Chowder sighed. He didn't know.

**How are they going to get the company back? Read the next chapter to find out! Please review :)**


	4. Chapter 4

Chowder, Mung, and Shnitzel all drove back to Ms. Endive's Tasteful Foods in Es-car-go (Chowder had insisted on keeping her, even after all these years). By the time they got back, Panini had left for her bakery, so Endive and Truffles were watching the kids.

"What happened?" asked Truffles.

"Rueben knew we were going to try and make him take back what he wrote," said Chowder.

"He also knew that we wouldn't be able to prove anything against him," Mung said, angry at the pig for taking away his apprentice's business.

"Radda radda radda!" said Shnitzel.

"So, are we going to make pork chops or pork loaf out of him?" asked Truffles, getting her frying pan out.

"It doesn't matter," Chowder said, looking down at the floor. Everyone looked at him, a little in shock. "Rueben knows we can't prove anything, he's won. And we can't do anything about it."

Mung looked at his apprentice, surprised at how quickly he was giving up. "Chowder..." he started to say, but Chowder turned away from him.

"I'm going for a walk," Chowder said. He grabbed his jacket and went out the door. Mung wanted to say something. He remembered how Chowder gave him the strength not to give up when Rueben didn't give Mung a certificate, and he wanted to do the same for his apprentice. But perhaps, Chowder just needed some time by himself.

"Is Mr. Chowder going to be okay?" Scraps asked Shnitzel.

"Radda radda, radda radda radda radda radda radda," replied Shnitzel. Scraps looked at the door sadly as it was shut.

Chowder walked down the street. It was cloudy and chilly, and there was barely anyone else on the streets.

The catbearit wanted to stay positive, he really did. Throughout all his adventures, he had never given up. There had always been a way to fix it, something he could do to solve all his problems. But now, it didn't seem like there was any solution. It was like Mung said, Rueben knew that they were going to try, and so he made sure that nothing could give Chowder the upper hand. Chowder was ashamed at himself for giving up, but he didn't really have a choice. Rueben may have finally won.

It just wasn't fair.

Eventually, Chowder found himself in front of the catering company. The building looked so colorless and empty. The lights were off, and there were boards nailed to the door so Chowder couldn't get in.

"Well, I could always work at Endive's," Chowder said to himself. Just then, he heard a smash, like the sound of a window breaking. He quickly ran to the side of the building, and there were two guys with a crowbar by a broken window. "Hey, stop that!"

The guys looked up, and quickly ran off. Chowder walked over to the smashed window. He looked inside and saw the kitchen, longing to go inside and cook, like he did a few days ago with Scraps, like he did years ago with Mung...

*Squeak!

Chowder snapped out of his trance and saw a small, furry rat scurry across the floor. It went forward, paused for a minute, and then turned back around. It seemed stiff, almost... robotic. "Hmm," Chowder said as he took off his hat and took out some green gunk (luckily he still kept 'snacks' in there). He tossed it into the building, and after a few minutes, the rat came back. But it went right past the gunk. It did the same thing as last time: went forward, paused, and went back, without so much as sniffing the food.

Slowly and carefully, Chowder crawled into the building. After a minute, the rat came towards Chowder, not even stopping. As soon as it was close enough, Chowder grabbed it and picked it up. His looked at it, and glared. On the bottom of the rat, were wheels and a battery pack.

"I gotta show this to Mung," said Chowder. He put the mechanical rat in his hat and crawled back out the window.

()()()()()()()()

"We can prove he was lying!"

Everyone at Endive's looked up. Chowder had just bursted through the door after being gone for about ten minutes. He seemed tired like he had just ran the whole way, but he also looked excited.

"What are you talking about, Chowder?" Mung asked. Chowder quickly took off his hat and pulled out the rat. Shnitzel and Endive both screamed, while everyone else just looked shocked.

"Radda radda radda!"

"Chowder! Why...?" Mung started to say, but Chowder stopped him.

"Wait, it's not real! Look!" Chowder quickly turned the rat over, revealing the wheels on it. "I found it in the catering company."

"So Rueben put it there," said Scraps, "knowing the inspector would find it."

"So now we have proof!" said Mung, smiling "Now we can get the company back!"

"Radda radda radda radda radda radda radda, radda radda radda," reminded Shnitzel.

"You're right, Shnitzel," said Mung, "We still don't have proof that Rueben was lying about the food or service, and he could just say he thought the rat was real."

"Well then we need to get proof," said Truffles, "That fat pig deserves to lose his job and whatever else he has. Besides, I doubt he's even a real food critic."

As if a giant idea bulb popped up above everyone's heads, everyone looked up. "Wait, what if he's not a real critic? I mean, why would he be?" When Chowder was a kid, almost everyone in Marzipan hated Rueben because he was always trying to get free food, even to the point of stealing it with the help of rats.

"You need to be certified to be a food critic," said Mung, "It's a very important job. He could be faking it, that would make any review he made invalid."

"Radda radda radda radda!" said Shnitzel.

"So if we can find proof he's not a critic," said Chowder, now smiling "we can get the company and our customers back."

"Which means we can get our house back," Endive said to Shnitzel.

"And I can start learning how to cook again, right Mr. Chowder?" asked Scraps.

"Right," said Chowder, smiling at his apprentice. Rueben wasn't going to win, they were.

"What's going on?" asked a voice from the doorway. Chowder quickly recognized it as his wife's.

"Panini, we figured out a way to...um, did you get in a food fight or something?"

Panini was covered with flour and cake batter. "It's the mixer at the bakery," said Panini, "it still mixes well, it just spits some of it out on me. But it's okay, at least it works."

Chowder frowned. He knew Panini was just saying that because they no longer had the money to buy a new mixer. But then Chowder remembered the plan, and smiled. "Well, I have something to cheer you up."

After telling the whole story, Panini was smiling just as much as the rest of them were. "So, how are you going to get the proof?"

"We," said Chowder, pointing to Mung and Shnitzel, "are going to get it tonight."

"What?" "Radda?"

"Yeah," said Chowder, "We need to get it as soon as possible, and there's a new noodle place opening tonight. Rueben will go there to review it, and we can sneak in and get the proof we need."

"Perfect," said Mung.

"Yep," said Chowder. He then gave a little laugh. "Just like old times, huh?" he said, remembering the time they all had to try and sneak a rat sandwich away from Rueben to prove they didn't serve disgusting sandwiches.

But now, a little more was on the line than just a sandwich. But Chowder wasn't going to let himself give up again, and he definitely wasn't going to let Rueben win.


	5. Chapter 5

As soon as the sun fell and the moon rose over Marzipan, the three friends left Endive's on their mission. They all wore blue camo outfits (a/n like the ones in Shnitzel Quits) and took a backpack to hold their flashlights and any evidence they would find. Chowder, Mung, and Shnitzel were all ready to bring Rueben down off his high horse.

Scraps had wanted to come along as well, but Chowder said no, in case they got caught. Relucantly, Scraps obeyed and stay home. So, the three walked to Rueben's, not wanting to take the car since that would be hard to hide, and then hid in the bushes outside the stuck up pig's house. Finally, at about ten past seven, they saw the bright lights in the window turn off, and the front door open.

"Come on," whispered Mung, "There should be a back door." The three crawled behind the bushes, as quiet as possible, until they got to the front door. "Chowder, if you'll do the honors?"

Chowder nodded and then quickly coughed up a skeleton key. He may have changed throughout the years, but Chowder's talent for coughing up random, useful objects hadn't. Mung took the key (with a little disgust) and opened the door.

"Okay, since we all know how much free food Rueben can eat and how far away the restaurant is," explained Mung, "We should have about half an hour to find what we need and get out. Got it?"

"Right." "Radda." Chowder quickly tossed the bag on the floor so he could look more easily, but as soon as he did, he heard a mumbled "Ow!". Curious, he opened the bag, only to find his apprentice, along with a couple flashlights.

"Scraps, I told you to stay at Endive's," said Chowder, a little more surprised than upset. So that's why the bag felt so heavy.

"I'm sorry Mr. Chowder," said Scraps, "but the kitchen was my home too, and I-I wanted to help get it back. I thought maybe I could get through small spaces and help you find proof that Rueben's lying."

Chowder smiled at Scraps. "Alright, you can stay and help, just be careful, alright pal?"

"I will, Mr. Chowder," said Scraps, smiling at his master as he crawled out of the bag. He handed Chowder both of the flashlights, one Chowder kept, and one he gave to Mung.

The first place they thought to check was the snotty pig's bedroom. For about five minutes, they raided the large, pink painted bedroom. No fake certificates, no fake cards, nothing. They searched every shelf, every drawer, even under the bed. Absolutely nothing.

"Well, let's head to the living room," said Mung.

"Radda," said Shnitzel, "Radda, radda radda radda." Scraps popped his head from under the bed.

"Coming Shnitzel." The little box turtle crawled out from the bed and accidentally bumped into the small table beside Rueben's bed, knocking over the plastic lamp and making a big noise. Luckily, it was a small, big noise. "Oops, sorry," he whispered, as he sat the lamp up again, even though he was now the only one in the room. But before he left the table, he saw a small card that hadn't been there before.

It must've been under the lamp, Scraps thought as he picked it up. It was laminated like a credit card, but because it was dark, he couldn't see what it was. So, since he didn't have any pockets, Scraps put it inside his box and quickly headed into the next room. When he found the rest of his group, Mung was trying to open a closet in the hallway.

"Come on," said Mung, frusterated with the sticky lock on the door. Scraps walked over to Chowder.

"Mr. Chowder, I found something," he said just as Mung had finally gotten the closet open.

"What'd you find?" asked Chowder, but Scraps didn't get to answer.

"Look at this!" said Mung, shining a flashlight on a medium sized box in the closet, with a lid on it. Written on the box in marker was "Food Critic certification docs."

"Radda radda radda radda," commented Shnitzel.

"What do you mean it's too convinient, Shnitzel?" said Mung, "You're just being oversuspicious again."

"Yeah," said Chowder, "Let's just get this stuff and go." As soon as Chowder lifted the lid off the box, a trapdoor opened underneith them and they all stayed in midair cartoon style just for a moment. "Uh oh."

All four of them fell down the long tube for what seemed like seconds at the speed they were going. Mung, Shnitzel, and Scraps were all screaming, while Chowder stayed silent, trying to see if there was an exit somewhere in this endless pipe. Heck, if he knew where this pipe was headed, he would be laughing and having a great time. There were zigs and zags, lefts and rights, until finally, Chowder shouted "Hey! There's an opening up ahead!"

In a matter of moments, all four of them were launched out of the pipe... and into a huge mudpit. "Do you really think I would be careless enough to let you find anything you could use against me besides an old rat toy that no one could possibly know who it belonged too?"

After wiping the mud off his face, Chowder looked up and saw Rueben standing above them, with a smug look on his face. He knew they were going to try to get him in trouble.

"Just admit it! You're not a real food critic, you're just tricking everyone!" accused Mung.

"Radda! Radda radda radda radda radda!" shouted Shnitzel.

"Maybe I'm a real critic, maybe I'm not," said Rueben, "But I guess you won't be finding out, and I guess you'll be cooking on the streets."

That did it. Chowder stood up and glared at the pig. "Why Rueben! Why do you hate us so much! What did we ever do to you!"

"You want to know what you did to me," said Rueben, glaring back, "Well let's see, you turned my rats against me, you got my own private cruise ship taken away, and you made me almost get eaten by a giant fish!"

"Most of that stuff you brought on yourself!" shouted Mung.

"Fine, then I just don't like you. Now, I should call the police on all of you for breaking and entering..." Chowder looked over at Scraps. "But since it looks like you've been humiliated enough to night, I won't. But try a stunt like that again, and I won't waste any time in doing so. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a restaurant to review." And with that, Rueben turned his back on the group and started to walk away. But before he could get too far away, Mung picked up some mud and threw it at him, but unfortunately missed. Rueben shot one more glare at them.

"Ungrateful recipe pirates," Rueben muttered under his breath as he walked away from the mudpit. After about five minutes, and a bit of teamwork, all four of them were able to get out of the pit, but not without getting completely covered in mud.

Slowly and sadly, they all walked home, wondering what to do next, and if anything could even be done.

**Please review, and the next chapter should be up Saturday or Sunday, I promise.**


	6. Chapter 6

Covered in mud, the four of them walked into Endive's house. By the time they got home, the babies were in bed, and the three wives were playing a game of majohng to pass the time. Just by the look on their faces, the ladies knew the boys didn't succeed. The whole house seemed to go quiet, Endive didn't even make a joke about Mung being covered in mud, they just all sat on the couch, wondering what would happen now.

"So, what do we do now, Mr. Chowder?" Scraps finally asked.

"I guess we'll just have to wait until we open up again," said Chowder with a sad tone, "Maybe if we change the name, people will start to come again. And if not, I could probably get a job somewhere else."

But what will happen to me, Scraps thought worriedly. He knew Chowder was upset, but he was already an adult. Scraps was just a kid, and an apprentice. If Chowder couldn't be a chef, would he be thrown out on the streets? Would he have to find a new master? No one would be as nice or supportive as Chowder.

Scraps felt himself start to tear up. Not wanting his master to see him cry, he quickly went inside his box. But before he could even shed a tear, Scraps noticed a rectangular piece of plastic. The card! Scraps had forgotten he had it.

"Mr. Chowder," he said as he came out of his box, holding the card, "Look."

"What's that?" asked Chowder, "How did you get it?"

"I found it under a table lamp I accidentally knocked over," explained Scraps, "Rueben must've been hiding it."

"Let me see that," said Mung, grabbing the card from Scraps. He looked at it. "It's a copy of Rueben's critic certification card!"

Everyone got up and gathered around the card, except for Endive who was drinking a cup of tea, and honestly didn't care. Sure enough, it was Rueben's card, or at least a copy of it in case he lost the original. On the top of the card in bold letters, it said "Certified Critic". Underneith it was a picture of Rueben (giving an I'm-better-than-you smile), and information like name, age, I.D number and date the card expired.

"Well, is it real?" asked Panini. Mung looked at the card closely, and then gave a sad frown.

"It looks pretty real to me," Mung said sadly. Everyone's hearts dropped. But then, Endive walked over to them.

"Let me see that!" She said, snatching the card and getting a glare from Mung. After just a few minutes and turning over the card a few times, Endive spoke again. "Wow Mung, I knew you were a bad chef, but I didn't know you were blind too."

"First off, I'm a great chef and you know it!" shouted Mung, "and two, what do you mean?"

"On the back, there's always a certification stamp," said Endive pointing to the blank back of the card, "you'd know that if you had a brain (another glare from Mung). Second, I have connections to every food critic within 1,000 miles, and I memorize all their information and food favorites so I always please. The I.D number Rueben has on his card is the same number as a critic from Fiestaville, and one of my closest friends."

"You have friends? *SMACK* Ow!"

As Mung rubbed the back of his head, Chowder took the card back. "So, you're saying it's fake."

"Of course," said Endive, like it was old news. Chowder smiled ear to ear. Rueben was a fake! Which meant Chowder would not only get his kitchen and all his customers back, but could put Rueben out of a job as well.

"Oh Endive, I could hug you!" Endive gave him a look. "But I won't." Unless the person hugging her was Shnitzel, Endive wasn't really the hugging type.

"Now we can go over to Rueben's tomorrow and make him take back every word of that review," said Truffles.

"That pig won't have a choice now," said Panini, smiling.

As everyone talked about how good it would be to see Rueben get what he deserves, Chowder smiled at Scraps. "Thanks Scraps, for finding this."

Scraps smiled back, beaming with pride.

()()()()()()

*Ding dong*

"Oh for heaven's sake!" shouted Rueben. And he was right in the middle of breakfast too. Who could be here at this hour? Rueben opened the door, and saw Chowder and Mung, with Shnitzel and Scraps behind them.

"Wow, are you really trying this again?" asked Rueben, unimpressed, "By the way, I'm not afraid of your rock monster if you're trying to use him to scare me into telling the truth." Shnitzel balled his fist, but resisted the urge to punch the pig right in the snout.

"Hey Rueben," Chowder said casually, "Do think we could come inside?"

"I'm not letting you search my house."

"We're not here to search, I just want to talk." Rueben gave him an untrustworthy look, but eventually gave in. What could be the harm?

"Fine, come in," said Rueben. The four of them walked into Rueben's house and sat down on the couch, while Rueben sat in his chair. "So, what is all of this about?"

"Oh, I just wanted to let you know my apprentice found something of yours," said Chowder, getting out the card, "he found your fake critic I.D card."

"Well yes, that is my I.D card," said Rueben, "But I assure you it's not fake."

"We know about the certification stamp, Rueben," said Mung, "and the copied I.D number."

Rueben got a nervous look in his eyes, but stayed calm. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Oh, and Mr. Rueben," said Scraps, "we also found your rat toy."

"It's really realistic," said Chowder, "and you know, my friend Porridge likes rats, he has a couple of them as pets. I was thinking of giving the toy to him. He's the chief of the MCPD you know, he might dust it for finger prints just out of habit."

Rueben started to sweat. "If you try anything," he said, not so calmly now, almost angry, "I'll tell the cops you broke into my house and stole my card."

"You can't prove anything," said Mung. Rueben was about to open his mouth, but then closed it. They were right, he had no proof. He just had his words, and since most in Marzipan hated him, that wouldn't help much. "And we can just say that we found your card on the street somewhere, you must've dropped it accidentally, and we just happened to discover that it's fake."

"We could bring it to the newspaper," said Chowder, "I don't think they want fake critics on the paper. And to think, all those free meals going to someone else."

"Radda radda radda radda radda."

"That's true Shnitzel," said Mung, "he might even go to jail for fraud."

Rueben was really sweating now. He was sweating like, well, like a pig! He could grab the card, but that rock monster was sitting next to Chowder, he would probably punch him in the face the minute he tried to make a grab for it. Finally, Rueben fell onto his knees.

"Please don't, I'm sorry!" Rueben begged, "This is the best job I could hope for, you can't take it away! It was just a joke, ha ha, funny right? But I-I promise I'll take it back! I swear it just please, don't tell the paper, or the police!"

All four of them looked at the pitiful pig, and then looked at Chowder, who was still looking at Rueben. Finally, Chowder spoke. "I could just ignore this and tell everyone. You would lose your job, your home, everything. Just like I did." Rueben looked at Chowder, getting paler by the minute. "But, I'm not going to..."

"What!" "What!" "Radda!"

Rueben gave a nervous smile. But Chowder wasn't finished. "I won't tell, on three conditions." Rueben was no longer smiling, but continued to look at Chowder. "One, take back the review you wrote about us. Say you got it mixed up with some other place."

"Oh! Say it was Endive's!" Mung interrupted, smiling.

"Radda! Radda radda!"

"Fine, don't say it was Endive's," Mung pouted.

"Don't give a name, just say it was some other restaurant," said Chowder, "and then write a new _positive _review on us." Rueben glared at Chowder, no longer on his knees, but nodded at him. "Two, make a new review for any other restaurant you've made a fake review for. That way any other restaurant you closed, and any people you've hurt, can get a second chance."

"You can't be serious!" But Chowder's face was serious. Rueben scowled. "Fine, but you're going to see a lot of sushi places and pancake houses open up. They may be good, but the atmosphere is so drab. Now what's the third thing?"

()()()()()()

"I can't believe you made him buy me a new mixer for the bakery."

"You said you needed one, and you didn't seem to like getting covered in cupcake batter everyday."

Chowder, Panini and Scraps were sitting in the foyer by Truffles' old desk. Everyone else was in the living room, just hanging out and having fun until dinner (which Mung, Chowder and Scraps all made together) was done. Chowder had managed to not only get a good review out of Rueben, but the best mixer on the market for Panini for free. When they read the new review, every word was positive, but they could tell every word was a lie as well. They could just see Rueben clenching his teeth as he wrote the review. But it didn't matter if Rueben didn't like them, the company was now busier than ever, and that was just in a couple days. Mung and Truffles were heading back to their retirement life on the beach in the morning, but they all decided to have one celebration dinner before the two left.

"Mr. Chowder," said Scraps, "I still don't get it, why didn't you get Rueben in trouble. He almost got us shut down forever."

"Well," said Chowder, "As much as a jerk as Rueben is, and as much as I don't like him, making him lose his job wouldn't solve anything. He would just try to shut us down again. Sometimes it's better to just make a compromise and then call a truce instead of revenge. Besides, I knew how it felt to lose your job and home, even Rueben doesn't deserve that, no one does."

Scraps smiled. No wonder everyone liked Chowder. "Well, I'm just glad we have the kitchen back."

"Me too," said Panini, wrapping her arms around her husband and giving him a quick kiss, making him smile. Just then, they all heard the timer go off. "Dinnertime." Panini let go over her husband, and she and Scraps went into the kitchen.

Chowder looked around the foyer and smiled. Everything was right again. After another moment, he walked into the dining room to have dinner with his family, just one of the many he was sure to have in the future.

**The End :) (please review)**


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